Tag Archives: content pr

The Press Release as Discovery Tool

Posted on May 21, 2013 by | 3 Comments

Today’s noisy media environment poses challenge for brands:  how to get for important messages when there is so much fragmentation of the audience — and competition for their attention.  People share and consume incredibly granular information, and a fundamental communications vehicle – the press release – is proving remarkably adaptable and effective, provided communicators refresh their approach to using this PR workhorse in this new environment.

“Press releases have a chance to be something so much more relevant,” notes Steve Farnsworth, chief strategist at Jolt Digital Marketing, and publisher of the widely-read Steveology blog. “But they have to be immediately specific and relevant.”

Who’s reading press releases (and why?)

A couple minutes' worth of press release tweets from this morning. Click the image to see the live feed.

A couple minutes’ worth of press release tweets from this morning. Click the image to see the live feed.

According to research PR Newswire conducted with Forrester on the visitors to PRNewswire.com, a significant portion of millions of monthly visitors are engaged in researching a product or service, and they find  press releases through their use of search engines.  People are also accessing press releases increasingly on mobile devices –views to PR Newswire’s mobile site have almost doubled in the last year. 

What’s the attraction? Press releases, as on-record statements from the organizations issuing them, are viewed as credible sources of information, and they are read and shared by the public, as well as journalists, analysts and bloggers.

“Most press releases that are produced aren’t read by the media, they’re read by the people,” says Farnsworth. “Your readers are going to be your stakeholders, and you’ll reach more directly that way than through the media.”

The long tail of the press release

Many communicators distribute the press releases in one way or another, whether through an email to industry players, a newsletter to customers or a commercial newswire service.  Once distributed, press releases develop an amazing ability to work their way into key industry niches, attaining the credibility of earned media status as they are liked, commented upon and shared.

Additionally, press releases are read long after they’re issued and the PR department has moved on to other things.  PR Newswire’s data indicates that most of the views the average press release will accrue over the four months following the distribution of the message – longer than many communicators expect.   A good message can actually increase its audience’s attention span.

To capitalize upon the ongoing attention the message generates, the press release also needs to provide direction for interested readers to take.

“The press release needs to be a guide to something bigger or better than itself, such as an infographic or ebook,” commented Eddy Badrina, co-founder and chief strategy officer at BuzzShift, a digital strategy agency.  “In fact, all those things you spend time creating probably deserve a press release.”

The recent “Dove Beauty Sketches” campaign included a exemplary press release that – while also loaded with multimedia elements – was also masterfully written to capture attention behind-the-scenes information about the wildly successful social media campaign.

Author Sarah Skerik is PR Newswire’s vice president of content marketing, and is the author of the e-book “Unlocking Social Media for PR.”  Follow her on Twitter at @sarahskerik .

 

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Press Release RX: 3 Ways to Improve Reader Experience

Posted on May 14, 2013 by | Leave a comment

PR RXYou can’t read an article or blog these days on web design or SEO without seeing a reference to “user experience design” (or “UXD” if you want to look cool.)   It’s a hot topic, and for reasons that go far beyond aesthetics.   The experience users of a web site encounter have a direct effect on that site’s search rankings and conversion rate.  And in the advice offered by UXD pros and SEO gurus are some important lessons for writers.

First, a little background.  When we’re talking about web site user experience, we’re referring to all the different aspects of content, structure and navigation that enable a site visitor to do the things he or she wants to do, whether that means reading a white paper, registering for an event, browsing information or purchasing things.  Poor UXD means that something on the site prevents the visitor from doing what he or she intended to do.

pr as leadgen

This blog post was actually inspired by a press release I reviewed for a client last week.  It was long, wandering from topic to topic.    It tried to tell the story of a new product along with the story of the product pipeline as well as the story of a successful acquisition.  It tried to achieve too much, and as I read through it, I really wanted to stop reading.  And that is exactly what we don’t want our readers to do.

As we’re drafting press releases, we should be thinking about what exactly we want our readers to do, and then structure the content accordingly.  But how do we design press releases (and other content, for that matter) to encourage readers to move forward, to the outcome we want them to take?  Here are a few ideas.

  1.  Identify the specific outcome you want your primary audience to take.  In most cases, you’ll want other constituents to read the story, too. But trying to serve all audiences in one message is tough to do.  Focus the content on one audience, and one outcome, such as getting industry media and bloggers to write a particular story, generating social shares of an image or getting readers to click on a specific link.
  2. Focus the content of every paragraph on leading the reader to that outcome.  If your writing starts to veer from the path, so will your reader.  Stay focused on the key message.   Other messages will need their own separate vehicles, whether that means another press release or something else, such as a blog post or inclusion in a customer newsletter.
  3. Structure the content to enable the reader to get to the desired outcome.  It’s important to assume that most readers do not read all the way through a piece of content, unless it is meeting their needs and hooking their interest every single step of the way.  This means that in addition to keeping the message focused, you need to put links where people will click them – such as right after the first paragraph, rather than at the very end of the copy where they could be easily overlooked.   Weave links and access to supporting information throughout the content.

As writers, we need to think first about what our readers want to read and accomplish, rather than what messages our organizations want to convey.   Press releases should march the reader straight to the key points of the story and wrap up with an inevitable conclusion.  Just as marketers strive to prevent their sales funnels from leaking, and webmasters focus on increasing the time visitors spend on the site, writers need to be thinking about maintaining reader attention as they author content.

 Author Sarah Skerik is PR Newswire’s vice president of content marketing, and is the author of the e-book “Unlocking Social Media for PR.”  Follow her on Twitter at @sarahskerik .

 

 

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Content Marketing & PR: Powering the Marketing Engine with Earned Media

Posted on February 26, 2013 by | Leave a comment

As a lead strategist at the Content Marketing Institute (among a number of other professional endeavors), Robert Rose is a renowned expert on all things related to content marketing. We recently asked Robert to share his thoughts on the topic of PR and its relation to content marketing, and the resulting Q&A below is chock full of tips and insights. We hope you enjoy it!

PR Newswire:  What’s the first thing that comes to mind when you hear the term…

Content Marketing… 

Robert Rose: Well, the first thing that comes to mind is “my job”.  But the second thought is how marketers are using organic content and dynamic storytelling to positively affect business results.

 Public Relations… 

RR: A core practice that is undergoing fundamental disruption.  I’m a HUGE, passionate fan of public relations.  But I think the practice of Public Relations has lost its way a bit – especially as it pertains to being the corporate “storyteller”.  If there’s one group that should be embracing the ideas of content marketing – it’s PR.  And, sadly, because in many cases it has lost its strategic seat at the table (save for crisis management) PR is one of the last departments to actually get to embrace content marketing.

Daisy Rose, via BigBlueMoose on Flickr.

 Man’s best friend  (a slight digression, but I had to throw this one in here given that you’re fellow dog lover)…

RR:  Oh my god – you’re tempting me to embed pictures of my dog here aren’t you.

PRN:  Yes.  We are.

PRN: What are the parallels between content marketing and PR? (What does PR lend to content marketing, and vice versa?)  

RR: I’m reading a wonderful book right now called PR! By Stuart Ewen.  It’s basically a history of the practice.   In that book, there’s a phrase that’s used frequently describing how “images used as persuasion” was at the core of PR.   That’s directly related to content marketing of course.  The question for brand marketers and product marketers is how can they tell the larger story of a brand/product to fill the emotional well of customers, in order to change or enhance their behavior.  These are identical goals.

blog_quote_RobertRosePRN:  In your opinion, what is the biggest misconception about PR?

RR:  I think maybe that it’s a separate thing from marketing.  A well integrated PR program is much more than just investor relations and/or pushing content (news releases) into the publishing space or (candidly) more than issuing a “social” release that simultaneously tweets/blogs/distributes your latest press release.    An integrated PR program is one key component of telling a broader and more valuable story.  The opportunity is to really leverage earned media in order to power other parts of the marketing engine.

 PRN: If a PR practitioner was sitting across the table from you right now, what advice would you give them as to how they can help their respective organizations amplify the results of their content strategies?
IRR: Well – that’s a bigger topic than this format allows for – and probably needs great beverages to go along with it.  But here’s one quick piece of advice.  The power of today’s distribution services is being squandered by most companies.  Somewhere along the line, companies got the idea that there was only one way to write a press release – and we all swallowed the blue pill.  Why does every press release read like a press release.  Guess what – if we (as marketers or PR professionals) write the article we WANT the outlets to run – the distribution service will still distribute it.  It doesn’t have to speak in Corporate-ese – or in some bland, “we’re proud to announce that blah blah blah”.   Let’s start writing compelling, engaging content – and use the distribution service as a mechanism to get that story out in the market place.

PRN:  What opportunities or benefits exist for organizations whose PR and marketing departments work collaboratively on a content strategy?

 RR: The main opportunity and benefit is a truly cohesive story across paid, earned and owned media.  The Altimeter folks are doing some great work on this front – and I’d encourage anyone to read their work on this topic.  But truly, if you are interested in the ROI of Content Marketing, so much of it has to do with being able to leverage a cohesive story across these channels.  For example, if we look at Coca Cola – and their content marketing.  They produced a piece of content (The Security Camera video) and it was popular on YouTube.  So, nice content marketing right?  Well, right – except that they also used it as an ad for the Super Bowl (after they understood that it resonated on YouTube) and they got tons of earned media on outlets covering it.   Paid, owned and earned media making content work MUCH harder for the organization and justifying the cost of creating great, impactful content.

 PRN: Is there an organization, or two, that you can point to as being successful in rallying both marketing & PR departments around overall content goals to achieve results while working within a limited budget?

Yes, certainly (as mentioned) Coca Cola is doing as good a job with content as anyone.  Also, of course, you can’t avoid mentioning Red Bull – who people have described as a media company that also sells a canned drink.   But I’d also point to B2B companies like SAS and SAP who are doing a good job with content and storytelling.   And, finally – State Farm Insurance and their work with the William Shatner fried turkey  video is a wonderful example of marketing, PR  – turning into great content marketing. 

st farm wm shatner

Learn more about how PR and content marketing strategies can be combined to produce powerful and compelling earned media that reaches the right audiences by tuning into our on-demand webinar,”Fueling the Content Marketing Engine Through PR.”

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An Emerging PR Trend: Content PR Strategy & Tactics

Posted on January 15, 2013 by | 8 Comments

Content PR.  You’ve probably seen this phrase bouncing around the blogosphere recently, and no wonder, it’s an emerging PR trend for this year.  But what is content PR?  To discover the answer, we need to look to marketing first.

ContentPR-infographic-loResOver the last couple years, we’ve seen a significant change in marketing tactics, and the subsequent rise of inbound marketing.   Driven by generating interest rather than causing interruption, inbound marketing tactics, including content marketing, draw the audience to the brand, rather than pushing messaging out and hoping that someone pays attention.   Doing this requires a brand to be in tune with its audience, know what they’re talking about (and where the talking is occurring) and the creation of content that speaks to the audience’s interests.

The Genesis of Content PR

Within that last sentence you see the genesis of content PR.    More than any other department, public relations is dialed into the sentiments of their brand’s constituents.  And knowing where influence and conversations are to be found is PR’s stock in trade.  And finally, PR pros are an organization’s master storytellers.  In a word, they do content.

What is Content PR?

Content PR is the extension of content marketing principles applied to PR.  The core content marketing principles include:

  • Understanding audience interests,
  • Creation of relevant and compelling content
  • Deployment of that content in various formats and across different channels in order to reach audiences where they live

New strategy & tactics

In practice, content PR requires some shifts in the traditional PR mindset and tactics.

From episodic campaigns to ongoing presence.   It can be tough to get away from the traditional idea of a campaign.  But as we all know, audience interest isn’t dictated by campaigns.   While campaigns do a great job of building interest, opportunities are lost when brands don’t serve the organically occurring interest that develops when a person has a gift to buy, is researching charities related to a new cause, or is researching vendors or a project at work.   Content PR is crucial to developing a plugged-in brand presence that understands – and delivers – what constituents are seeking, and what they need to make related decisions.

Reflecting the audience point of view in messaging.   While there’s still a place for news announcements of record, savvy brands are changing their messaging to reflect the audience point of view.   Rather than simply issuing a message from the ivory tower to the masses, brands today are communicating in the context of their customers and other constituents, building audience values into their messaging.   A brand that’s launching new software, for example, might develop content supporting the launch around related customer challenges, bringing in expert advice about dealing with a particular issue, and work in details about the new software’s capability within that context.  So instead of “NewSoftware from XYZ Corp. Offers Improved System Performance,” the headline might read “5 Ways to Improve System Performance.”  And instead of a simple text press release, the content might include an array of elements, including an infographic, slides or a short video with an expert.

Measuring pull, not push.   While we’ve been talking about “push vs. pull” communications for years now, fully embracing a “pull” mentality is crucial for the successful practice of content PR – and measuring it.  How do you measure pull?   While metrics will vary for each organization, here are some ideas:

  • Search rank, and inbound search terms used to find brand content.  A dive into website analytics tremendously revealing.  A look at the search terms people used to find your web site shows you pretty clearly 1) the terms for which your content ranks in search engines and 2) the terms your audience is using to get to your web site.  If those terms don’t jibe with the larger PR strategy, a focused content PR effort can help.
  • Traffic to specific content – and the resulting activity. Measuring the visits to specific pages is one obvious measure.  But take it a step further, and look at what happens next.  Are people sharing the content published on social networks?  Are they clicking on the links embedded in the content and taking the next step (see Outcomes, below.)   Looking deeper into page traffic will reveal whether or not your audience is truly engaging with the content your brand has published.

Collaboration.  More than ever, integration with marketing is crucial if content PR is going to work.  Key challenges that collaboration will address include developing a consistent and coherent experience for your audiences.    It’s also important to realize that one piece of content can trigger a variety of outcomes, and brand need to have their ducks in a row to capture all of the potential results.  For example,  in addition to generating interest among media and bloggers,  the direct connection the audience has with the content brings with it the opportunity for the brand to move prospects ahead in the decision process.   PR and marketing should collaborate to ensure the content is accurately mapped to the customer decision process, and appropriate next steps are offered to readers. Designed to further inform – and qualify – your brand’s prospects, next steps can include access to more specific information (such as case studies), tips for doing something better and access to staff.

A hallmark of content marketing is creating content that can ultimately represent the brand’s voice and POV within the timelines of an individual person’s search for information or buying process.  Content PR shapes opinion contextually.  When coordinated with the brand’s marketing efforts, content PR shapes opinion generates lasting visibility and delivers measurable, top line business results.

Join us for the upcoming webinar on Wednesday, January 23, 2013:  Leveraging Converged Media’s Impact on Content Marketing

Additional resources:

White paper:  Maximizing Content Marketing – A 6 Step Plan for Agile Engagement

4 Ways to Attract Qualified Audience With Content

Author Sarah Skerik is PR Newswire’s vice president of social media.   See her in person at the upcoming Online Marketing Summit in February, where she’s hosting a workshop on Driving Qualified Audiences Into the Funnel Using Rich Media and Distribution Networks.

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What is Content PR? [Infographic]

Posted on January 15, 2013 by | 1 Comment

ContentPR-infographic-loRes

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PR Trends for 2013: Outcomes & Tactics

Posted on December 20, 2012 by | 12 Comments

google trends prYesterday we discussed the evolving media environment, and some of the emerging PR trends that will impact our business in 2013.  Today, we’re going to drill down into more tactical PR trends, and discuss how the practice of PR is changing on a fundamental level.

Evolving outcomes

The outcomes expected of PR are evolving, and that’s where we’ll start today.   Traditionally, PR outcomes have been campaign based, and in many cases, have been measured fairly narrowly, in terms of media pick up and AVEs.  Tying PR output to the business bottom line has long been a challenge.   It’s a different story today, however, and it requires an expanded view of measurement across the enterprise.

“What we measure is part of the puzzle,” notes Deirdre Breakenridge, CEO of Pure Performance PR and author of Social Media and Public Relations: Eight New Practices for the PR Professional. “When we look at the metrics we capture, we have to be working with other business areas to gauge the full impact.  The pieces connect. We’re not in a silo.  We have to make correlations between the data and the outcomes.”

So what are some of the outcomes we’re seeing PR departments charged with delivering?

Reputation & mindshare:  In today’s connected business and social environments, PR is charged with developing reputation and generating lasting mindshare.

Example:  Today’s buyers (both consumer and B2B) conduct extensive research before contacting vendors. If a brand doesn’t have a good reputation, positive reviews and strong search and social visibility, it will be eliminated from consideration well before the prospect gets serious about buying.  Instead of building episodic awareness, the new imperative for PR is to develop ongoing brand visibility and a strong reputation.

Related reading:

Lead generation, web site traffic, conversion rates:  Yes, you’re still reading a post about public relations.  One of the strongest emerging trends is the requirement for PR to deliver hard, measurable business results, whether that’s measured in an increase in web site traffic, or leads generated.    Delivering results that hit the top line, while formerly the domain of marketing, is increasingly expected of PR departments, and to PR’s benefit (in my mind, at least.)   Information drives many purchasing decisions today, and it’s only natural that the department responsible for conveying much of an organization’s information plays a strong role in influencing customer decisions.   However, doing that requires PR to become much attuned to the audiences, and to develop messages within that context.

“We have to ask how we differentiate ourselves,” says Shana Harris, COO of the Warchawski Agency.  “What are our goals, and what are the audience’s pain points? We have to put ourselves in our target audience’s shoes, understand the target audience and understand the experience we want to create for them.”

Related reading:  Demand More from Your Press Releases

Practical tactics

It goes without saying that PR tactics are evolving in tandem with shifts in the media, information and attention markets.   Emerging trends that are gathering steam as we head into 2013 include:

  • “Content PR”:  You’ve undoubtedly heard of content marketing – the practice of deploying content designed to interest, educate and inform an audience, in order to attract them to the brand and to influence decisions in the brand’s favor.   Many of the tactics adopted by content marketers are pulled straight from PR’s playbook, but the way content marketers are using them should awaken PR pros to the opportunities in their midst.

Specifically, content marketers focus on developing content that serves the audience, answering their questions and giving them the information and education they are seeking.    Conversely, PR has traditionally spent a lot of its time crafting the message the brand wants the marketplace to hear.  “Content PR” is an emerging trend that combines PR’s access to influencers and its traditional role as the storytellers in chief for the organization with the audience-focused approach advocated by content marketers.    The most effective PR departments are evolving their message strategy, developing stories their respective marketplaces will eagerly devour (and like, post, tweet and share.)

Related reading: Content marketing case study: It sure looks like PR to me

Communicating visually:  We’ve been talking about multimedia here at PR Newswire for years: as previously discussed on this blog, we know empirically that press releases that include some sort of visual (image, infographic, video, etc.) generate better results than their plain-text brethren.  At this point, it’s probably safe to say that multimedia communications are less of a trend, and more of an imperative, for communicators today.  However, the mechanisms by which our audiences access, ingest and share the images, resources and video we publish continue to multiply.    Developing the ability and means to communicate key messages visually is an important skill required of today’s PR pros, and an investment required of PR departments.

Related reading: Press Releases With Multimedia Get Better Results

In just a few days, I’ll be celebrating my 18th year with PR Newswire.  While that is a staggering number and I’d be willing to argue that I can’t possibly be *that* old, this post caused me to reflect on all the changes I’ve seen during my tenure with “the Wire” (as we affectionately call it.)   PR is an infinitely interesting discipline, and the changes enumerated in my last couple posts underscore the simple fact that we are getting closer and closer to the intersection of information, interest and intent that is really the golden ring for communicators. Are you as excited about what’s in store for communicators in 2013 as I am?

Sarah Skerik is PR Newswire’s vice president of social media.

Want to dig deeper into the evolution of PR and trends to watch for in 2013? Access the archive of a recent webinar titled PR Prepping for the New Year: A Look at the Evolution of Modern PR & What It Means for You discussing the evolution of PR and trends for 2013.  Panelists included:

  • Deirdre Breakenridge (@dbreakenridge), CEO of Pure Performance Communications

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